Don Bradman and Shane Warne named in Wisden's all-time XI Don Bradman and Shane Warne named in Wisden's all-time XI Julian Guyer reddit More LONDON: Australia great Don Bradman was named captain on Wednesday of an all-time Test World XI to mark the 150th anniversary of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. Although Bradman played his last Test in 1948, no batsman before or since has come anywhere near his staggering Test batting average of 99.94. SHARE Shane Warne has been named in Wisden's greatest Test team. Photo: David Gray Also included is his compatriot Shane Warne, who during the 1990s established himself as arguably the greatest legspinner cricket has known. Given that it is a UK-based publication built around the events of the previous English season, albeit one now encompassing the whole of senior international cricket, it is perhaps unsurprising there are four England players in the side. SHARE Link The greatest: Don Bradman. W.G.

Grace, the 19th century star who invented the fundamentals of batting, opening great Jack Hobbs, wicketkeeper Alan Knott, a mainstay of England teams of the 1970s and Sydney Barnes, a master of both swing and spin and reckoned by many to have been England's greatest bowler of all time, make it into the side. West Indies provide three players in Vivian Richards, widely regarded as the best batsman of his generation, Garfield Sobers, frequently referred to as the greatest allrounder cricket has known and Malcolm Marshall, viewed as arguably the best in a long line of top-class Caribbean fast bowlers. Advertisement India provide one player in the soon-to-retire Sachin Tendulkar, Test cricket's leading run scorer of all-time, with the team completed by Pakistan's Wasim Akram, long esteemed as the best left-arm fast bowler cricket has known. Hobbs, Bradman, Richards, Sobers and Warne were named as Wisden's five players of the 20th Century in 2000. WISDEN WORLD XI: 1.

Jack Hobbs (England, Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1909) 61 Tests, 5,410 runs at 56.94 2. W. G. Grace (England, CY 1896) 22 Tests, 1,098 runs at 32.29 3. Don Bradman (Australia, CY 1931, capt) 52 Tests, 6,996 runs at 99.94) 4. Sachin Tendulkar (India, CY 1997) 198 Tests, 15,837 runs at 53.86 5. Vivian Richards (West Indies, CY 1977) 121 Tests, 8,540 runs at 50.23 6. Garry Sobers (West Indies, CY 1964) 93 Tests, 8,032 runs at 57.78, 235 wickets at 34.03 7.

Alan Knott (England, CY 1970, wkt) 95 Tests, 4,389 runs at 32.75, 250 catches, 19 stumpings 8. Wasim Akram (Pakistan, CY 1993) 104 Tests, 414 wickets at 23.62 9. Shane Warne (Australia, CY 1994) 145 Tests, 708 wickets at 25.41 10. Malcolm Marshall (West Indies, CY 1983) 81 Tests, 376 wickets at 20.94 11. Sydney Barnes (England, CY 1910) 27 Tests, 189 wickets at 16.43.

AFP 5 greatest cricketers of the 20th century - A Cricket Article 5 greatest cricketers of the 20th century Rating: 2.8/10 Comments The panel In April 2000 a panel of hundred cricket experts was formed from former players and journalists from nine international Test playing nations. The number of these experts was proportional to the quantity of Test cricket played by the nation during the 20th century. Thus there were 28 voters from England and 1 voter from Zimbabwe. The group was chosen in such a way that each decade of the 20th century was covered. This panel was asked to select the 5 greatest cricketers of the 20th century. Five may appear as an insufficient and unreasonable number. However Wisden, a yearly cricket chronicle that dates back to 1864 has been naming “Five Cricketers of the Year” for more than a century. Hence the number five was chosen. Obvious selections – Don Bradman and Gary Sobers After the 500 votes were cast by the panel of 100 it was observed that they had voted for 49 players.

Out of these two cricketers were far ahead of the rest as they were the obvious selections. The maximum votes were given to Donald Bradman as he was voted for by all the participants. Bradman the Australian cricketer was active in cricket from 1928 to 1948. He was hailed by Wisden as “the greatest phenomenon in the history of cricket, indeed in the history of all ball games”. He was selected as the 1st Wisden cricketer of the 20th century. He is still the holder of several important records in Test cricket, like highest career batting average (minimum 20 innings), highest series batting average (5 Test Series), highest ratio of centuries per innings played etc. The second obvious selection was Gary Sobers. This all rounder from the West Indies received 90 votes. In his career, he scored 8032 runs in Test cricket which was a record when it was made. His average in Test cricket is 57.78 and he has also taken 235 wickets at a bowling average of 34.03.

Other three There was a wide gap in the number of votes given to Bradman and Sobers and the remaining three selections. Also these three were separated from those below them by a wide margin of votes. The third cricketer was Jack Hobbs of England. This batsman who played from 1907 to 1930 received 30 votes. He was selected as the 3rd Wisden cricketer of the 20th century. In first class cricket, he has scored more runs and centuries than any other player. The fourth cricketer was Vivian Richards of West Indies. This batsman who played from 1973 to 1991 received 27 votes. He was also selected as the 5th Wisden cricketer of the 20th century. He is considered as the most devastating batsman to have ever played cricket. The fifth cricketer was Shane Warne of Australia. This leg spinner played from 1991 to 2007 was given 25 votes. He was selected as the 4th Wisden cricketer of the 20th century.

He has an account of more than 1000 international wickets if the Tests and One-day wickets were added and has also piled up more than 3000 Test runs. Vivian Richards vs Imran Khan After the five players were chosen it was felt that no Asian was present amongst them. The highest placed Asian was Imran Khan of Pakistan who played from 1971 to 1991. This pace bowler was arguably the greatest of the times of extraordinary all-rounders. It is recognized that his captaincy enhanced the performance of an under-achieving team to a World Cup winning one. Imran received 13 votes and was ranked the 10th greatest cricketer. However if Imran was to be selected then Richards would have to be omitted. Richards has been acknowledged as the most electrifying cricketer of the last quarter of the century. He was a symbol of the swagger and brilliance of the exemplary West Indies team of the 1980s. It was generally regarded that bowlers who could bowl at more than 90 miles per hour were frightening.

However the crease presence of Richards was such that the English writer John Arlott blamed him for “intimidatory batting”. Categories: Wisden - Five cricketers of the century WISDEN 2000 home Five cricketers of the century The selection of Wisden's Five Cricketers of the Year has always been the perquisite of the Almanack's editor of the day. Perhaps he gets a little help from his friends. But the process has always been rather secretive, even mystical, and the choice personal, sometimes downright eccentric. The system works and, over the years, has come up with more interesting and less predictable names than a committee might have done. But once the decision was taken for Wisden to choose Five Cricketers of the 20th Century, it seemed inadequate. There was a precedent. When the centenary Almanack was published in 1963, Sir Neville Cardus was asked to name Six [not, interestingly, five] Giants of the Wisden Century. He went for Sydney Barnes, Sir Donald Bradman, W. G. Grace, Sir Jack Hobbs, Tom Richardson and Victor Trumper.

But the cricketing 20th century was a much more global one than Wisden's first century. No list to cover the years 1900 to 1999 could reasonably include only white males: four Englishman and two Australians. And no one person's perception could properly cover the entire sweep of the game as it is now played. So it seemed right that, for the age of democracy, the choice should be made differently. To reflect the pattern of cricket history, we established an electorate of 100, from all nine Test-playing countries but weighted to reflect each country's role in international cricket over the century, judged - very roughly - on the number of Tests played. So there were 28 English voters, 20 from Australia and so on down the line to just one from Zimbabwe. The electorate comprised 97 men and three women (the doyenne of English women's cricket, Netta Rheinberg, the Pakistani journalist Fareshteh Gati and the Barbadian commentator Donna Symmonds). They were a mixture of cricketers, journalists (indeed many count as both), historians or even just expert observers of the game like Sir Carlisle Burton of Barbados.

More than half had played Test cricket; all of them had watched copious amounts of it. There were many people whose broad knowledge and expertise would have added further lustre but who could not be squeezed in; to all of them my apologies. Those who were asked faced a task that was essentially impossible. The major problem with this exercise is, of course, that no one watched all the cricket of the century. Some, however, came close, led by E. W. Swanton, whose first-hand knowledge of all cricket since the First World War was unsurpassable. We were fortunate that he was able to take part before he died in January 2000. We were also privileged to have three electors who played Test matches before the Second World War: Norman Gordon, Alf Gover and Lindsay Weir. It would be wrong, though, to have had this decision entirely filtered through the perhaps rheumy eyes of age. The current generation of cricketers, not all of whom have much feel for the game's history, was represented by the Australian captain Steve Waugh, who does. 1. Sir Donald Bradman1002. Sir Garfield Sobers903. Sir Jack Hobbs304. S. K.

Warne275. Sir Vivian Richards256. D. K. Lillee19 Sir Frank Worrell198. W. R. Hammond189. D. C. S. Compton1410. Sir Richard Hadlee13 Imran Khan1312. S. M. Gavaskar1213. S. F. Barnes11 Sir Leonard Hutton1115. W. J. O'Reilly1016. I. T. Botham917. H. Larwood6 R. R. Lindwall6 S. R. Tendulkar620. R. Benaud5 G. A. Headley5 Kapil Dev523. R. G. Pollock4 W. Rhodes4 V. T. Trumper426. T. G. Evans3 M. D. Marshall3 Wasim Akram329. Sir Alec Bedser2 C. V. Grimmett2 F. S. Trueman2 F. E. Woolley233. C. E. L. Ambrose1 K.

C. Bland1 A. R. Border1 B. J. T. Bosanquet1 B. S. Chandrasekhar1 I. M. Chappell1 Lord Constantine1 A. A. Donald1 A. P. Freeman1 L. R. Gibbs1 M. A. Holding1 C. H. Lloyd1 S. J. McCabe1 B. Mitchell1 K. S. Ranjitsinhji1 M. W. Tate1 Sir Pelham Warner1 THE ELECTORATE Zimbabwe (1) Dave Houghton To avoid embarrassment, it was decided not to ask any of the most obvious candidates for the accolade to be voters themselves, even though this meant losing, most obviously, the unparalleled judgement of Sir Donald Bradman. Even so, there was some overlap, and half a dozen of those asked to cast votes also received them. No one voted for himself, though there was one near-miss, which we will come to.

During the World Cup and just afterwards, the 100 voters were asked "to set aside any bias towards your own country and your own era, and name the five whose excellence at cricket during the 20th century you think has made the greatest contribution to the game." They were told not to put the players in any order of merit, just to name the five, and given only two pieces of advice. One was a general point that has always driven the selection of Cricketers of the Year. "Excellence can be interpreted broadly", we said. It is legitimate to take into account leadership qualities, personality, character and impact on the public. The second was more specific: "Please don't vote for W. G. Grace. We consider him a Cricketer of the 19th Century." They were given the option of explaining their choices if they wanted; some of the most telling remarks are quoted below. There were no problems with the guidelines. A few (mostly journalists, of course) had problems with the deadlines. The terror on my part was that there might be a tie for fifth place, forcing us to find some kind of tiebreak mechanism.

But it was not a problem: the final verdict was unexpectedly decisive, and there was a substantial gap between fifth and sixth. It was not, of course, as great as the gap between second and third. The endorsement of Bradman was every bit as ringing as expected (I did wonder if someone, somewhere, might be contrarian, but no one dared). Steve Waugh summed up the consensus as eloquently as anyone: "Sir Donald really speaks for himself". "Only one Don", said Alan Davidson. No one can doubt, no one does doubt, that here was the greatest cricketer of the 20th century. But Sir Garfield Sobers was not far behind. He was on 90 of the 100 ballot papers and those who left him out must have wrestled with their consciences first. "If there's been a better all-rounder," as Dickie Bird put it, "I'd love to have seen him play." Thus the overwhelming majority of those who voted felt, frustratingly, that they did not really have five votes but three - because the top two were certainties. Indeed, many felt the same applied to Sir Jack Hobbs. But here there was a complication.

Most people wanted to include someone to represent the pinnacle of English batsmanship, and there were alternatives. Walter Hammond's statistics are overwhelming. Then consider impact on the public; on that basis it is hard to argue against Denis Compton. And what about Sir Leonard? Many exceptional judges did not vote for Hobbs. John Woodcock chose Compton for enchantment. Swanton made the case for Frank Woolley: "He scored more runs than anyone bar Hobbs and scored at around 50 an hour, giving more pleasure and for longer than any other English cricketer. And he took 2,000 wickets and 1,000 catches." Enough, however, opted for Hobbs's quiet but devastating impact on the game. "He challenged the key assumption that no professional could bat as well as a thoroughbred amateur": said Gideon Haigh, editor of WisdenAustralia. And he was, as our long-standing Sri Lankan correspondent Gerry Vaidyasekera put it, "a batsman with a charming smile and a kind heart". Perhaps the biggest surprise is the identity of the player in fourth place.

There were people among our hundred frightened to make a judgement on players they had not seen, which might have given present-day players an advantage. With perfect knowledge, maybe there would have been more votes for some of the early players, for Barnes, say, or Victor Trumper. But there are always former players who scorn the moderns, and perhaps an equal number of ballot papers reflected this factor. In any case, the votes for Shane Warne came from across the globe and across the generations. If anyone doubts his status, listen to Crawford White, 88 last year and the former cricket correspondent of the Daily Express, who watched both Warne and Bill O'Reilly. "O'Reilly didn't rip the ball through like Warne does," said White. "And I don't think he caught the imagination quite as much as this lad." The fifth selection turned out to be a third specialist batsman, Viv Richards, "a master of both versions of the game", in the words of the Pakistani journalist Omar Kureishi. No one better epitomises the ferocious nature of cricket in the 1970s and 1980s - except perhaps Dennis Lillee.

No specialist fast bowler made the final cut, arguably the one flaw in our selection. But Lillee was by far the nearest, with a particularly high poll from those who saw him at closest quarters - "To me, the greatest fast bowler in history," said Dickie Bird - as well as votes from such luminaries as Sir Everton Weekes and Peter Pollock. Others preferred Harold Larwood or Ray Lindwall ("the greatest quickie of all in pace, control and movement" - Tom Graveney). In the end, Lillee was not even outright sixth, but finished equal with Sir Frank Worrell, whose position perhaps bore testament to the concept of interpreting excellence broadly, and the near-reverence in which he is still held as a leader whose impact resounded far beyond cricket. "A great man," said Richie Benaud, his most worthy opponent, putting Worrell in his five. Some voters - quite legitimately - used at least one of their picks to include their personal heroes.

Fred Trueman chose Wilfred Rhodes; one South African sheet anchor, Russell Endean, voted for another, Bruce Mitchell; Bob Taylor struck a blow for wicket-keepers, not easy to do in a list of just five, by choosing Godfrey Evans. Others honoured their contemporaries. Vic Marks had the chance to name two of his Somerset team-mates - Richards and Ian Botham - and took it, though he resisted including Peter Denning, Peter Roebuck and Colin Dredge as well. Peter van der Merwe, the former South African captain, picked out Colin Bland: "He revolutionised the attitude to fielding, and set a standard not yet equalled." Alf Gover named Maurice Tate. Brian Close went for Trueman. But there were also some touching, and unexpected, tributes across the generations.

The great New Zealand batsman John Reid voted for Malcolm Marshall, before Marshall's tragically early death: "He seems to have had everything: pace, movement, accuracy, and the right attitude, which is hard to say of some other fast bowlers." Ian Chappell, that bonny fighter for cricketers' rights, went for Barnes: "Statistically a great bowler and stamped his character on the game by demanding that he always be paid his worth." Jonathan Agnew went for A. P. Freeman: "His statistics blow my mind whenever I read them." One member of the panel, however, went very close to home indeed. Walter Hadlee confronted the issue squarely as he cast his ballot for his son, Sir Richard. "This has to be embarrassing for me," he wrote. "But there's a job to be done. I will cite the bare facts." And he did: 431 Test wickets and the transformation of New Zealand's Test record. "I consider him to be marginally ahead of Dennis Lillee," he concluded. And a dozen other people - all unrelated - came to a similar conclusion. Not one of our hundred voted for all the final five.

Yet I don't believe anyone will argue that we have got it terribly wrong. At least one of the five played in every decade of the century. We have two Australians, two West Indians and an Englishman, which seems geographically right (though one suspects an Asian or three will be up there for the 21st century). A total of 49 players received at least one vote. And the difficulty of the choice can be gauged by the quality of some of those who failed to get on the scoresheet at all: Keith Miller (who received many mentions in despatches), Barry Richards, Greg Chappell, Gooch, Laker, Lara, Hanif, C. B. Fry... It was enormous fun just counting the votes; I think almost everyone enjoyed the exquisite torment of making a decision. If there is a sadness, it is only that none of us can expect to be around to have a second bite in 2100. But I hope our successors will make the attempt, and (with more video to guide them) will have just as many great cricketers from whom to choose.

In choosing and contacting the electorate, I was given special help by Mike Coward, Colin Bryden, Tony Cozier, R. Mohan, Qamar Ahmed and Don Cameron. To these, and everyone else who took part, I would like to express my gratitude. © John Wisden & Co Warne named among players of 20th Century | The Independent Warne named among players of 20th Century Tuesday 4 April 2000 23:00 BST Click to follow The Independent Online Australian leg spinner Shane Warne is the only present day player named in Wisden's list of the top five cricketers of the 20th century. The respected cricket almanac commissioned a poll of 100 cricketers and journalists, with Aussie master batsman Don Bradman edging West Indian all rounder Gary Sobers by 10 votes for the top position. Bradman, who once scored 974 runs in a five test series, hit 29 centuries and had a test average of 99.94 - still easily a world record - when he retired in 1948.

In first class cricket, the Australian run-gatherer amassed 28,067 at an average of 95.14, his top score being 452 not out for New South Wales. The left-handed Sobers hit 8,032 runs, took 235 wickets and 109 catches in tests and owned the world record innings score of 365 for 36 years until it was beaten by countryman Brian Lara in 1994. Jack Hobbs, a stalwart of the 1920s who scored 61,237 first class runs in a 29-year career, placed third and is the only Englishman in the top five. Warne, who recently overtook Dennis Lillee's Australian record of 355 test wickets, placed fourth ahead of West Indian batting star Viv Richards, who still holds the record of the most test runs in a year, 1,710 at an average of 90.00 per innings. "It's a huge honor to be included while I'm still playing and it's hard for me to wrap my head around it," Warne said in a statement.

"I'm very shocked because I didn't know about it. Even if I had known about it I wouldn't have expected to be chosen." Wisden editor Matthew Engel, who is stepping down this year after seven years in the job because he says he's frustrated at having to continually write about England's failures, also named his five best players of 1999 and there isn't a single Englishman among them. The five are: New Zealand's Chris Cairns, who starred in New Zealand's test series win over England; India's Rahul Dravid; South Africa's Lance Klusener and Australia's Tom Moody for standout performances at the World Cup; and Pakistan spin bowler Saqlain Mushtaq. More about: BBC News | CRICKET | Widen's cricketers of the century Wednesday, 5 April, 2000, 16:06 GMT Widen's cricketers of the century Bradman's feats put him well ahead of the rest Wisden's poll of the five greatest cricketers of the 20th century was based on the views of 100 former cricketers and journalists.

Here are the elite quintet - three batsmen, a bowler and an all-rounder - who won the acclaim of their peers. Sir Donald Bradman Bradman retired with a Test average of 99.94 Simply the best player of the 20th century, Don Bradman's astonishing Test average speaks for itself. Indeed he famously would have finished his career with the magical average of 100 had he not been dismissed for a duck in his final Test innings at the Oval in 1948. So highly regarded is the 91-year-old Australian legend, that every one of the 100 contributors in the Wisden poll voted for him. His own biggest critic, Bradman believed there were other contemporary batsmen who were more talented than him. Test record 29 centuries, 13 50s Highest score 334 But while others may have had more natural flair, no-one could match Bradman for sheer concentration and domination of the crease. So awesome was he, that Douglas Jardine's England tourists invented a whole new approach to the game - the controversial "Bodyline" tactic - just to deal with him.

And although sporting predictions are always dangerous, it is surely safe to say that no-one will ever match Bradman's remarkable feats, which included scoring 974 runs in a five-Test series. Sir Garfield Sobers Sobers could switch his bowling style at will The only other player to come close to Bradman in the poll, Gary Sobers managed nine out of 10 votes. But as BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew commented, who on earth could the remaining 10% have voted for? The finest all-rounder the game has ever seen - and that title was bestowed on him by Bradman himself - Sobers was a match-winner who had an uncanny ability to turn games in an inspired passage of play. Test record 235 wickets at 34.03 Best bowling 6-73 A stylish left-handed bat, he was the first player to smash six sixes in an over and his 365 not out against Pakistan in 1958 stood as the highest ever individual Test score for 37 years, until the arrival of Brian Lara.

And he was a supremely versatile bowler, able to switch from out-and-out pace to wrist spin, snaring 235 Test victims. His elegant, attacking approach to the game and his great sportsmanship endeared him to supporters and players across the world. Sir Jack Hobbs Hobbs was the first great star of the 20th century The sole Englishman to make the Wisden list, Jack Hobbs may not be as famous with the modern cricketing public as the likes of Botham, Boycott, Compton and Cowdrey - but his reputation within the game remains huge. The Surrey opener's career was interrupted by the First World War, but he still went on to score 61,237 first-class runs - a figure that is still unsurpassed.

Test record 15 centuries, 28 50s Highest score 211 He also accumulated a record 197 centuries and as Wisden editor Matthew Engel says on the Wisden website: "Most astonishingly from a modern perspective, the last 98 came after his 40th birthday." Hobbs was renowned for his improvisational skills and his ability to hold an innings together once the wickets started to fall around him. Engel concludes: "He was not an artist, like some of his predecessors, nor yet a scientist, like some of the moderns; he was perhaps the supreme craftsman." Shane Warne Shades Warne: Have sunglasses, will travel Warne is the only specialist bowler to make the list, the only current player and the only one of the five who has not - as yet - been knighted. The great Australian leg-spinner's place among the heavyweights of the game is perhaps due to two factors. First he popularised the art of slow bowling when spin was becoming a dying artform.

The "ball of the century" - his first ever Ashes delivery, a fizzing beast that turned phenomenally to remove Mike Gatting's off-stump at Old Trafford in 1993 - did much to create Warne's myth, particularly among England fans, who have suffered at his hands more than most. Test record 4 10-wicket matches, 16 5-wicket innings Best bowling 8-71 Since his emergence leg-spin has become de rigeur, with every other Test side desperate to find the next Warne. Secondly, his flamboyant image did much to haul cricket out of the doldrums in the early 1990s. With his bleach-blond hair and ear-ring and cock-sure persona, he is arguably the most charismatic cricketer of his generation who has taken the game to a whole new audience. Sir Vivian Richards Master-blaster: Richards at his imperious best Bucaneering batsman, expert slip-fielder and great mate of Ian Botham, Viv Richards is one of the most fearsome figures ever to play Test cricket.

He was the middle-order star of the brilliant West Indies team of the 1970s and '80s, laying waste to the best bowling attacks in the world. Test record Don Bradman named captain, Shane Warne also included in Wisden's all-time Test XI - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Don Bradman named captain, Shane Warne also included in Wisden's all-time Test XI Updated October 24, 2013 16:00:12 Map: England Australian great Don Bradman has been named captain of an all-time Test World XI to mark the 150th anniversary of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. Although Bradman played his last Test in 1948, no batsman before or since has come anywhere near his staggering Test average of 99.94. Also included was compatriot Shane Warne, who during the 1990s established himself as arguably the greatest leg-spinner cricket has known. They are the only two Australians in a side which also features four Englishmen, three West Indies stars and one each from India and Pakistan.

WG Grace, the 19th century star who invented the fundamentals of batting, opening great Jack Hobbs, wicketkeeper Alan Knott, a mainstay of England teams of the 1970s and Sydney Barnes, a master of both swing and spin and reckoned by many to have been England's greatest bowler of all time, made it into the side. West Indies provide three players in Vivian Richards, widely regarded as the best batsman of his generation, Garfield Sobers, frequently referred to as the greatest all-rounder cricket has known and Malcolm Marshall, viewed as arguably the best in a long line of top-class Caribbean fast bowlers. India provided one player in the soon-to-retire Sachin Tendulkar, Test cricket's leading run-scorer of all-time, with the team completed by Pakistan's Wasim Akram, long regarded as the best left-arm fast bowler cricket has seen. Hobbs, Bradman, Richards, Sobers and Warne were named as Wisden's five players of the 20th Century in 2000.

Wisden World XI Sir Don Bradman (c), right-hand batsman, Australia Full name: Donald George Bradman Nickname: The Don Born: August 27, 1908 in Cootamundra, NSW Died: February 25, 2001 in Adelaide, SA Teams: Australia, NSW, SA High score: 334 Average: 99.94 Undisputably the greatest batsman of all time and the greatest cricketer of the 20th Century. Dominated Ashes series in the 1930s and 1940s, scoring 974 runs in one series with 309 of them coming in a day. Australia lost only one series in that time - 1932-33 - when England devised the controversial Bodyline tactic to thwart his sublime talents. He made 29 tons in 80 trips to the crease. Bradman famously needed just four runs in his final Test innings to finish with an average of 100.00 but was out for a second-ball duck.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sir Jack Hobbs, right-hand batsman, England Full name: John Berry Hobbs Nickname: The Master Born: December 16, 1882 in Cambridge, England Died: December 21, 1963 in Sussex, England Teams: England, Maharaj Kumar of Vizianagram's XI, Surrey Tests: 61 High score: 211 Average: 56.94 Was cricket's most prolific batsmen, finishing his career with 61,237 first-class runs including 197 centuries. He played until he was over 50 and scored over half his tons past the age of 40. At 46, he is the oldest man to score a Test century. He became the first professional cricketer to be knighted in 1953.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WG Grace, right-hand batsman, England Full name: William Gilbert Grace Nickname: The Doctor, WG, Doc Born: July 18, 1848, in Bristol, England Died: October 23, 1915, in Kent, England Teams: England, Gentlemen, Gloucestershire, London County, Marylebone Cricket Club, South of England Tests: 22 High score: 170 Average: 32.29 Grace's towering presence saw him revolutionise batting. He plundered more than 54,000 first-class runs across an unbelievable 44 seasons, including 839 runs in just eight days in 1876, hitting two triple-centuries. He scored over 1,000 runs in the 1895 season at the age of 46. He was also more than handy with the ball, whith 2,800 wickets at less than 18.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sachin Tendulkar, right-hand batsman, India Full name: Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar Nickname: The Little Master Born: April 24, 1973, Mumbai, India Teams: India, Asia XI, Mumbai, Mumbai Indians, Yorkshire Tests: 198 High score: 248* Average: 53.86 Considered by many to be the most complete batsman of his generation, Tendulkar holds records for most runs and centuries in both Test and ODI cricket, while also having score the most international runs. The Little Master has all the shots in the book and has been prolific all over the world in all different types of conditions. His WACA century as a 19-year-old is regarded by many pundits as one of the finest innings ever seen on Australian soil.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sir Vivian Richards, right-hand batsman, West Indies Full name: Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards Nickname: Master Blaster, Smokey, Smokin Joe, King Viv Born: March 7, 1952, St John's, Antigua Teams: West Indies, Combined Islands, Glamorgan, Leeward Islands, Queensland, Somerset Tests: 121 High score: 291 Average: 50.23 The most destructive batsman of his era, Richards used to take bowling attacks apart with ridiculous ease. So confident was he at the crease, Richards didn't bother to wear a helmet. His front-foot drives and hook shots were a sight to behold. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sir Garfield Sobers, all-rounder, West Indies Full name: Garfield St Aubrun Sobers Nickname: Garry Born: July 28, 1936, St Michael, Barbados Teams: West Indies, Barbados, Nottinghamshire, South Australia Tests: 93 High score: 99 Batting average: 17.32 One of the most flamboyant characters to grace the game of cricket.

Many argue Warne is the greatest spinner of all time, despite his finishing second in the all-time wicket stakes to his great rival Muttiah Muralidaran. Warne continuously flummoxed batsman with deliveries including the flipper. He fancied himself with the bat and was once famously dismissed for 99 off a no-ball. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Malcolm Marshall, right-arm fast bowler, West Indies Full name: Malcolm Denzil Marshall Nickname: Maco Born: April 18, 1958, Barbados, West Indies Died: November 4, 1999, Barbados, West Indies Teams: West Indies, Barbados, Hampshire, Natal Tests: 81 High score: 92 Average: 18.85 Considered by many pundits to be the finest of the West Indies' many formidable bowlers in the 1980s, Marshall had it all: pace, swing and a vicious bouncer, along with the ability to out-think batsman. He later developed a leg-cutter which he used to devastating effect on dusty pitches.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sydney Barnes, right-arm fast bowler, England Full name: Sydney Francis Barnes Nickname: Barney Born: April 19, 1873 in Staffordshire, England Died: December 26, 1967 in Staffordshire, England Teams: England, Lancashire, Wales, Warwickshire Tests: 27 Best innings: 9/103 Bowling average: 16.43 Barnes is regarded as one of, if not, the greatest bowler of his time. He entered first-class cricket before the days of the "new ball", when one had to suffice for the whole duration of the batting side's innings. He was one of the first bowlers to use the seam of the ball and combine it swing with spin to bamboozle the batsman. AFP/ABC Wisden top 100 cricketers of all time | The Roar Highlights Under the heading Shane Warne is still our best spinner , it was also mentioned that he was named one of the five greatest cricketers of the Twentieth Century.

The ultimate accolade has to be bestowed upon four knights – Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Jack Hobbs, and Sir Vivian Richards – along with the likeable larrikin, Shane Keith Warne. That was 11 years ago, with Warne, the only current player, at the peak of his leg-spinning powers. Let’s turn the clock back to how Wisden – the cricketer’s bible – formatted this intriguing exercise. There were 100 selectors: a mixture of former Test cricketers, cricket-writers, and historians; * England (28) – Jonathan Agnew, Trevor Bailey, Jack Bannister, Sir Alec Bedser, Scyld Berry, Dickie Bird, Brian Close, Lord Cowdrey, Ted Dexter, Matthew Engel, Alf Gover, Tom Graveney, Frank Keating, Tony Lewis, George Mann, Vic Marks, Christopher Martin-Jenkins, Derek Pringle, Nette Rheinberg, Mike Selvey, EW Swanton, Bob Taylor, Freddie Trueman, Crawford White, John Woodcock, Ian Wooldridge, and Peter Wynne-Thomas.

* Australia (20) – Greg Baum, Percy Beames, Richie Benaud, Bill Brown, Richard Cashman, Ian Chappell, Mike Coward, Alan Davidson, Gideon Haigh, Murray Hedgcock, John Inverarity, Bill Lawry, Peter McFarline, Jim Maxwell, Arthur Morris, Bobby Simpson, Cec Starr, and Steve Waugh. * South Africa (11) – Ali Bacher, Eddie Barlow, Colin Bryden, Russell Endean, Trevor Goddard, Norman Gordon, Michael Owen-Smith, Peter Pollock, Krish Reddy, Peter van der Merwe, and John Waite. * West Indies (11) – Gerry Alexander, Tom Becca, Sir Carlisle Burton, Tony Cozier, Esmond Kentish, Clive Lloyd, Reds Periera, Allan Rae, Donna Symmonds, Sir Clyde Walcott, and Sir Everton Weekes.

* India (10) – Mihir Bose, Dilip Doshi, Sunil Gavaskar, Ayaz Memon, Ramesh Mohan, Nirum Prabhu, Raj Singh, Kris Srikkanth, Polly Umrigar, and Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan. * New Zealand (9) – Dick Brittenden, Don Cameron, Walter Hadlee, Don Neeley, John Reid, Bert Sutcliffe, Lindsay Weir, and John Wright. * Pakistan (8) – Arif Abbasi, Fereshteh Gati, Hanif Mohammad, Intikhab Alam, Javed Burki, Mushtaq Mohammad, Omar Kureishi, and Qamar Ahmed. * Sri Lanka (3) – Stanley Jayasingha, Ranjan Madugalle, and Gerry Vaidyasekera, * And Zimbabwe (1) – Dave Houghton. The brief was simple: name five cricketers each, in any order. Don’t concentrate on your own country or own era.

No selector could vote for himself – and the infamous Englishman WG Grace was to be considered ineligible as Wisden regarded him as a cricketer of the 19th century. Pretty straight-forward, but the net results were anything but straight-forward. Controversy raged for months. Interestingly, not one of the 100 selectors nominated the final five, and among the maximum 500 votes, only 49 were nominated. * 100 votes – the max – Sir Donald Bradman. How he would have loved to sneak in an extra four runs in last Test dig at The Oval in 1948 to average a career 100, instead of 99.94. * 90 votes – Sir Garfield Sobers, how he missed out on 10 votes defies description. * 30 – Sir Jack Hobbs.

Question: Which Australian was named as Wisden's Cricketer of the 20th Century?
Answer: Don Bradman